IMDb Launches Streaming Service, Freedive

No longer satisfied to be the internet’s number one destination for people who want to try to remember who that one dude with that weird beard was in that one movie, IMDb is branching out into movie and TV streaming, launching a free, ad-supporting service called Freedive. It’s up and running right now at IMDb.com/freedive.

The site is described as “a free, ad-supported streaming video channel available in the United States on the IMDb website via laptop or personal computer and on all Amazon Fire TV devices.” If you’re not in the U.S. and you don’t have a PC (or a Fire TV) you are out of luck. If a film is on Freedive, you’ll find an option to watch it there on its IMDb page.

Browsing the options available at launch, they are slim but not terrible. A few of the early highlights are Memento, Gattaca, True Romance, Drive, Panic Room, Adaptation., Last Action Hero, and the immortal action classic Miami Connection. There are also some IMDb originals and television shows as well, including Quantum Leap, Kitchen Nightmares, Fringe, and The Bachelor.

It’s a decent start, but the success of Freedive will depend on how committed IMDb (and Amazon, the site’s parent company) is to keeping it going and building it up. Certainly the demise of Filmstruck and the state of Netflix leaves a space for someone with a really good catalogue of classic movies to carve out an audience.